In 2011, the state employed 786,653 people in science and engineering jobs — nearly 14% of the 5.7 million workers in such occupations across the United States. New York and Texas were also science jobs standouts — but with 328,851 and 450,316 jobs, respectively, they trail the Golden State.

The two local regions with the highest science and engineering employment were also in California: the Santa Clara or Silicon Valley area, with 143,329 jobs; and the Los Angeles region, with 141,719 jobs.

The NSF research, which used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2011 American Community Survey, broke out science and engineering employment into subcategories including biological sciences, computer and mathematical sciences, physical sciences, social sciences and engineering.

The Los Angeles region ranked high in all subcategories — the only metropolitan area to do so. Los Angeles led employment in the physical sciences, with 9,306 jobs reported.

Most of the science jobs tallied in the report — around 4.7 million — were computer, mathematics, or engineering-related.